Teen denies peeing in Oregon reservoir that is now being drained of its 38 million gallons of treated water

It's the surveillance video seen around the world: a teen urinating through a fence at a reservoir while his friends watched,

April 19, 2014 6:53:53 AM PDT

PORTLAND, OR --

It's the surveillance video seen around the world: a teen urinating through a fence at a reservoir while his friends watched.

The teen says it was a dare. But in the end, he says he didn't do it.

The 19-year-old says instead, he peed against a wall. The city though didn't take any chances and tested the water.

It was clean. But they still ended up draining nearly 40 million gallons of the drinking water anyway, just to be on the safe side.

"I did not pee in the water. The state is retarded for flushing all that water," said the teen, Dallas Swonger. "Yeah I apologize. I didn't want all this to go down. I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't know it was going to get national. All of this, for nothing."

The city has banned Swonger and his friends from going to the reservoir.

The city is also working with the district attorney's office to determine if any criminal charges will be filed.